Man's Restoration by Grace

by Thomas Goodwin

A

DISCOURSE

OF

The several parts which the Three Persons of the Godhead, bear in the accomplishment of our Salvation.

SHEWING

That they have taken on them several works appropriated to them therein, and the distribution of our Salvation into three Parts according to the number of the three Persons, and the part which each of them have taken therein, viz. The Father in Election, the Son in Redemption and Justification, the Holy Ghost in Sanctification and Application.

By THO. GOODWIN, D. D

LONDON

MAN'S RESTORATION BY GRACE

A discourse of the several parts which the three persons of the Godhead bear in the accomplishment of our salvation, and that they have taken on them several works appropriate to them therein.—And the distribution of our salvation into three parts, according to the number of the three persons, and the part which each of them have taken therein, viz., the Father in election, the Son in redemption and justification, the Holy Ghost in sanctification and application.

Table of Contents

The design of the discourse.—The two texts of Scripture explained.

That there are three persons in the Godhead, who have undertaken distinct offices in the work of our salvation.

The common concurrence which the three persons have in other works besides our salvation

Of their distinct appearance in the work of man's salvation

The reasons of the three persons making such a distinct discovery of themselves in this work of our salvation, rather than in any other.

The Uses.—See the great love of God, that all that is within him, all his attributes, and all his persons, should concern themselves in our salvation.

CHAPTER I

The design of the discourse.—The two texts of Scripture explained.

That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.—COL. 2:2.

This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood: and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, &c.—1 JOHN 5:6–8.

1. WE have heard of the estate of holiness man was created in; 2. Of the estate of sin and misery he is fallen into. Now follows,

3. His restoration, or that part of the gospel which contains the doctrine of our salvation and redemption out of sin and misery, in all the particulars of it.

And this I shall divide into three parts, according to three distinct works of the three persons for the accomplishment of it; which division is natural and genuine, and suited to the things themselves, according to the division of these as the causes of them; for man's salvation being the highest stage in and on which God shews himself, and all in himself, the three persons of the Trinity have in their infinite love to mankind discovered themselves, and appeared therein, not only taking the effecting of it in common among them (as in all other works they have done), but severally and apart, undertaking to act distinct parts therein, sharing the works thereof unto three eminent acts or scenes, by which the whole is fully accomplished and perfected.

The method therefore which I shall pursue shall answerably be so to handle the doctrine of our salvation, as withal to glorify these three glorious persons in their several agencies therein.

The first of these texts, Col. 2:2, makes God, as the Father, together with his work, and Christ, as the Son, together with a work of his likewise, to be both of them the subject of that mystery—the gospel, which in the first chapter he had been so much extolling; and as he there attributeth to the doctrines revealed therein a 'riches of glory,' so the very knowledge of this mystery in us he in this place dignifies with the same titles, calling it 'all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;' so parting and dividing the doctrine thereof according as these apart are the eminent subjects unto which all therein may be and are to be reduced.

1. Of God; the gospel being that mystery which displays in man's salvation all the attributes of the Godhead.

2. And of the Father; considered as the first person, distinct from the Son, and also from God, as here taken for the Godhead, as common to all three persons; and in saying 'the mystery of God and of the Father,' he means that besides the manifestation of all the divine attributes of the Godhead, which is one distinct part of the mystery, the Father hath as the first person apart discovered the glory of his person in a glorious design and agency, in the work of our salvation proper unto him, which collected out of the Scriptures and put together, makes up the deepest mystery.

3. And of Christ; He also, as a distinct person from the Father, hath both in his person as God-man, and in execution of his Father's design in his work committed to him, 'all treasures of wisdom and knowledge' objectively for us to know him by, and subjectively in himself.

4. The Holy Ghost, the third person, though not mentioned here, yet elsewhere hath frequently assigned unto him a third work.

It is the work of salvation, as it hath been transacted by the three persons, is the subject afore me.

I come therefore to that other text of the First Epistle of John, chap. 5 ver. 6–8. There we find all three brought in together as distinct witnesses unto man's salvation, or as ver. 11, that 'God hath given eternal life unto us' that are of the sons of men. They are indeed brought in as witnesses also to another grand matter, which he mentions in the verses afore and after, viz., that 'Jesus Christ was the Son of God;' but yet withal, the same verses all along do tell us that the end of that their witness to that great truth about Christ (as it is revealed to us) was in direct order unto that other about our salvation in him, and to draw us on to believe it, and give credit to it; 'and this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.' So that in the issue of all, it is our salvation that is made the great business and matter the three persons do appear as distinct witnesses unto here in this place.

Now, how do they witness thereto?

I answer, Both by their contributing their symbol each of them apart to the effecting it (as will anon appear), and then by bringing it home unto our faith and assurance, as ver. 13 shews.

There are two things which I insist on out of this scripture:—

1. That they are set forth unto believers by the apostle, as three distinct persons in the nature of one God.

2. That in the matter of man's salvation they have appeared to be three persons, in their becoming three distinct witnesses thereunto, and that they are three distinct witnesses, in being three distinct workers and operators therein.

CHAPTER II

That there are three persons in the Godhead, who have undertaken distinct offices in the work of our salvation.

Though I have already* handled this fundamental point, that in the essence and nature of our one God there are found this plurality of persons, yet I shall, both for the explication of this text in this Epistle of John, and for the making my way clearer to the understanding of the reader unto the second point, which is the main subject afore me, now add what was then reserved for this place. I then baulked any handling of this scripture, which, in that article of the Trinity, is made by all divines the eminentest and most proper seat for the handling the doctrine of it. But I saw it would be behoveful, that when this great point of the three works of these three persons should, in their due place, come to be discoursed of, that something to prove that there are three such persons in the Godhead should immediately before precede and revive the doctrine thereof, in order to the clearer understanding of this about their several works; and, finding that this scripture in John gave a foundation for both, I chose to set both together, so far as this one scripture at once gives a bottom unto both; rather than part the one so far from the other, as I should have done, if I had treated of the trinity of persons, as this scripture holds it forth; these and this other of their several works out of this same head, in this place only.

1. Then I shall give the proof of the trinity of persons in the one nature of God, who have such distinct works in our salvation.

The apostle, to evidence Christ to be the Son of God, and the salvation of us men in him, produceth two trinities of witnesses.

1. Three on earth, which witness but as things or evidences use to witness. I say as things use to be evidences; as a bloody knife, &c., is of murder, or as effects are of their causes. Thus the blood of Christ is one of the witnesses on earth, as being sprinkled on the conscience, and pacifying of it, is an evidence that Christ alone is that Messiah and Son of God; his blood having such an effect. So water (the second), or sanctification wrought and inherent in us, witnesseth as an effect useth to do its cause. And so the seal of the Spirit, which is the third witness on earth, leaving the impress of itself on the hearts of men on earth, witnesseth as a seal useth to do; according to that in Eph. 1, 'After ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.'

2. But then there are three in heaven, and these do witness as persons use to do, the Father, the Word, the Spirit; of which three he affirms that they are one, namely, in nature, and also concurring in testimony; and then concludeth concerning this thing, a truth witnessed unto by these latter three: verse 9, 'If we receive the witness of men' (as when two or three men come in as witnesses to a thing, it is accounted valid), 'the witness of God' (that is, of God one in essence, being these three in persons, and each of them God, and each [of the] three giving their distinct witness), this witness 'is greater,' because it transcendently containeth at once all that may be required in any sufficient testimony, according to the rules whereby men do estimate the validity of a testimony, and it is the testimony of God himself to boot.

1. Verity and faithfulness is required to a sufficient testimony; that the persons witnessing be of credit, and reputation, and fide digni, worthy to be believed; and this is superabundantly found here, in that it is the testimony of God; verse 9, 'This is the witness of God,' says he, and ver. 10, 'He that believeth not God, hath made God a liar;' which to do was to deny the whole of religion. God is of known repute with all nations, it being a received maxim, 'God cannot lie,' Titus 1:2.

2. But besides, in this testimony of God there is found a plurality of witnesses, there being three in that one nature of God; and a plurality doth, according to the laws of men, found a validity: 'In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established.' And this validity, as from a plurality of witnesses, the apostle had in his eye, appears in his using the plural when he speaks of the 'witnesses of men' in the plural (as will more fully appear after). No one single testimony of one man, though of never so good repute, is received. And both these do in the coherence, and the apostle's knitting things together, seem manifestly to have been his scope, if we narrowly do eye and put all together in the foregoing 7th verse with verse 9; for, first, he had numbered and counted them three several witnesses: and yet of those three (though three as witnesses) he says they are but one; and that oneness he means is not barely in respect of their concurring in witnessing one and the same thing; for he by this doth distinguish this oneness of theirs from that of the witnesses on earth, that they indeed 'agree in one,' but of those he further says, that 'they are one.' Now what one thing is it that they should be said to be, but their being one God? For the Father, who is the first of the three, he is acknowledged by all to be God, and that to be his nature. If therefore the other two and he are but one, then they are one God in nature with him; and so it necessarily follows they are but one God, and yet three distinct witnesses; and so it comes to pass there is both the highest verity, God, and a full plurality of three in God, testifying the same thing, they being one God. Now, he having premised and forelaid these two assertions thus in the 7th verse, he then brings down and contracts the strength of both into the 9th verse, thereby to urge and exact faith from us, in these words, 'If we receive the witness of men' (in the plural), the witness of God is greater,' wherein his scope is to greaten (as the word is) this testimony of the three, which is it he is now upon. For the clearing of which look what the one part of the sentence is not explicit in, the other part containeth and supplies (as the use and manner of the Scriptures is, when it sets things out by oppositions and comparisons made between two things, which is found in the Proverbs almost every verse), and thus by that rule there are two arguments to greaten this testimony suggested and involved in these two sentences: the one from the comparing a testimony of man with this, which is God's; the other, couched in that he says of men, in the plural, in which his perfect reference and aspect is unto the plurality of those witnesses he had spoken of and counted three, verse 7; and so his drift is to set the number also of the three witnesses (there spoken of) in opposition to, and comparison with, a plurality of men that use to come in as witnesses, which plurality is that which makes their testimony with men to be received, and so the 7th verse, comes down into this of the 9th, and falls with this infinite and irresistible weight upon our faith, that if the witnesses of two or three men, who are but men, is received, how much more should the record of three such witnesses in heaven, who are God, be received by being so much greater, as witnesses that are God are greater than man or all men?

It may be objected, that the next words that follow,—'For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son,'—being spoken particularly of the Father (to whom as a Father it only is that Christ bears the relation of being a Son), that therefore the sense of those foregoing words in verse 9, 'The witness of God is greater,' is wholly contracted unto the particular testimony of the Father, and so are understood of the Father's single testimony, whom all acknowledge to be God; to which I answer—

1. That this prejudiceth not, but strengtheneth rather this our interpretation of that former passage; for it was necessary that the Father's testimony should be in a particular manner on this occasion specified, because the thing or matter in a special manner testified unto by all was, that Jesus Christ was his Son; and so his relation as a father unto him as his Son, and his testimony thereby to own him as his Son, as in such a case it becomes a father to do, was in a singular way requisite to be added to the other. And thus the witness of the Word and Spirit is still involved in this of the Father's, in that he, in this his single testimony of his Son, is brought in but as the fore witness of the other two; namely, to utter the matter itself which they all jointly witnessed to, which was that Christ was his Son; and so we find at his baptism (unto which this whole passage of our apostle doth point), the voice uttering it was the Father's only, in saying, 'This is my well beloved Son,' for he only could say it and own him as his Son; but the Holy Ghost shewed his consent unto it in descending as a dove, and the Son of God himself owned it by his receiving baptism upon it; and so there was the testimony of more persons than one, even the whole three, as John here had said afore, that they were witnesses as well as the Father, 'and that these three are one;' and so still the first passage or sentence in ver. 9, 'if we receive the witness of men,' of a plurality of men, 'the witness of these three,' who are one God, 'is greater,' holds still good, yea, is confirmed thereby. But,—

2. I answer by calling in the help and light of another scripture, which evidently speaks to this sense I have given of the words, ver. 9; and the comparing thereof with this hath greatly confirmed me both in this assertion in hand and in this interpretation given of this place. And it is a scripture in which Christ himself, in his arguings with the Jews, by way of conviction who and what manner of person he was, speaketh the same things that we have heard John doth here; and both having been recorded by one and the same pen, namely, of this our apostle, have the more evidence by comparing one with the other, and becomes more fully explicative one of the other; and what the one is obscure in the other clears.

Now these passages of Christ which I mean to hold this intelligence with these here, are in the 8th and 10th chapters of the Gospel of John.

In the 8th chapter, verse 17–19, 'It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.'

The parallel between these two scriptures of Christ's and John's Epistle here runs thus along.

1. As in the Epistle of John, &c., the thing witnessed anto us is, that the person of Christ is the Son of God the Father, so in this of the Gospel of John, chap. 8 ver. 12, 'I am the light of the world;' 'though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true;' 'I know whence I came, and whither I go;' and ver. 19, 'If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also;' and ver. 24, 'If ye believe not that I am he (the great He, and only Messiah, Son of God), 'ye shall die in your sins.' They said, Who art thou? Jesus saith, 'The same that I said unto you from the beginning,' even the very Son of God. For that was it he had all along said, and from the beginning averred in the substance of it; yea, to his now* very end also; and they understood him well enough so to mean, as appears by their quarrelling with him for it here, and by the question is asked him at his death by their high priest; so from the beginning to the end it was that which he held forth.

2. As in the Epistle the apostle puts a weight upon the plurality of these witnesses for this matter witnessed, so Christ in that part of that gospel, ver. 14, doth just the same: 'Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true;' ver. 16, 'For I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me;' and ver. 18, 'I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me;' yea, and expressly in the 5th chapter, speaking of his Father as a witness, he says, ver. 32, 'There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.' Now these two, the Father and himself here, are two of, yea, the very same witnesses mentioned in the Epistle here, the Father and the Word; therein then both places they agree.

3. These witnesses do witness as distinct persons in both places, and therein especially doth one place clear the other, as to this point you see I drive at. For in this latter (the Gospel) Christ plainly and purposely pleadeth the validity of this testimony of his Father and himself upon this very ground (which the Jews would all acknowledge), 'It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true,' ver. 17; and then subjoins, ver. 18, 'I am one that witness of myself, and the Father that sent me another.' So then these two do witness as persons, and so he expressly argueth the validity of their testimony; he argues from this that they were two persons, and that in as great reality and truth as that two men (that come in for witnesses) are, I say, two persons; for upon that ground it is that the testimony of two men is received as valid. We use to say there are two persons that witness. And doth not the apostle here in the Epistle as plainly enforce and intend the very same plea and allegation which Christ used, when here he says, 'If we receive the witness of men,' ver. 9, of men in the plural, and that when two men at least come in and affirm the same thing, we are to receive it as legal and of force?

So the argument holds strong from the comparing of these two scriptures together either way: 1. That these being such witnesses as men are in law cases, that therefore they are distinct persons, and do witness as persons, and not as things use to be evidences of a matter so or so; and 2. That the ground why they are (even according to man's own rule and law) to be acknowledged authentic witnesses, is because they are two distinct persons, and as really such, and therefore are to be denominated and called persons, and esteemed by us as such, as really as two men are; and thereupon their witness is admitted. Now when unto these two witnesses, the Father and the Son, the apostle adds a third, the Spirit, his meaning must be that he is also a witness of the same rank and sort, and hath the same station and rank in heaven that the other two have, the same order that they two were of; and therefore is another distinct third person together with them, in that he is a witness together with them, and his witness alleged to all intents and purposes as the same that the others, both Father and Son, are, so that here is an invincible warrant to style these three in John's Epistle by the name of three persons, after the sense and usage of man in speech; for they could not have been alleged and cited as a plurality of three legal witnesses else, nor are they witnesses in reality and truth further than in reality they are persons.

4. We find in another altercation Christ had with the Jews, John 10:30, him to affirm, 'My Father and I are one.' Those then whom in this 8th chapter he had declared so manifestly to be two, as witnesses, and so also persons, the same two in the 10th chapter he as manifestly professeth to be but one. And doth not the apostle here in the Epistle speak just the same? 'There are three witnesses in heaven, and these three are one;' only what is defective in John's speech, Christ's speech supplies, are one. The apostle had not that word are, though it is necessarily and ordinarily understood. John wrote both these passages, and uniformly pursued the same drift and intent in either; and look in what sense or purpose Christ uttered the one and the other of these two passages, in the same sense the apostle did also in his Epistle. And what was it the Jews themselves understand by his saying, 'My Father and I are one,' but that as, ver. 33, he that was but 'a man, made himself God'? And so plain is that in Scripture language (and not in the reality of the thing itself only), and in terminis you have one God and three persons, and that in two several scriptures thus at once compared. Yea, and in this 8th chapter he doth in other large expressions affirm no less than in that 10th chapter he had done, for, ver. 19, 'If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father.' Take two men (unto whom in respect of testimony Christ had compared himself and his Father, as they are two witnesses and two persons), and they are such two persons as are not one and the same man, and yet they may and ordinarily do concur in testifying one and the same thing, and their testimony is received, and yet he that knows the one doth not necessarily (or perhaps not at all) know the other, for every man bears the nature of man apart to himself, and dividedly from the other. But here these, though distinct as persons (as being distinct witnesses), yet in nature they are altogether one, in that he that knows the one must necessarily know the other; and in the Epistle the apostle shews plainly that they are not one only in respect of agreeing in one, in witnessing the same thing (as those three on earth are said to do); but as noting a nearer oneness, he speaks thus of these three in heaven, that 'these three are one, and so are one in nature.

1. The last parallel and conclusion of the whole is, that both Christ and John do alike urge and infer and set out the high validity of the testimony of these heavenly witnesses in both, yea, all respects, as infinitely transcending that of two or three that are but men, when witnesses; which will appear by the comparative of the one with, or rather taken from, the other. First, Christ urgeth, indeed, the plurality of his own and his Father's witnesses, but with all the transcendency of them as such. My Father, says he, you all acknowledge to be God, therefore, if I should allege him only, it would infinitely excel any plurality even of all men, for 'let God be true, and all men liars,' and would weigh down the balance in which all men, put together, are found to be too light. If God were but one person only, this were superabundant, if he testified it; but Christ's intent is to urge his own testimony of himself to be valid as a witness with his Father; 'I am one that bear witness of myself, and my Father that sent me.' Now, in the law, which he had alleged in the verse afore for the value of a testimony, a man's own witness of himself, if he were a mere man, was to be reckoned as no witness at all, as Christ speaks, John 5:31, and here verse 14 does imply. Yea, it is then rejected with scorn; and had he been but a mere man, or so intended it, it must have been esteemed such, and no other. How came it to pass then, and why, then, doth he urge the law of two witnesses, when himself was one of them? Yea, further, had he been but a mere man, it had been the greatest presumption, yea, impudence, that ever had been shewn, to have yoked himself thus as a witness with God himself, and to have offered to have come in and set himself down with God in this matter. His meaning, therefore, plainly was, and must be understood to be, that himself was a person as creditable as God himself, and that he was God as well as his Father, and not a mere man, and as such it was he stood forth, yea, stands out with the Father, as equal with him in witnessing, because in nature equal with him, and as truly God as he. And he stands upon it, verse 14, and outdares also all such allegations and exceptions against his testimony on his own behalf with these words, 'Though I bear record of myself,' of myself (which in no case useth to be admitted), 'yet my record is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go.' As if he had said, I myself know what a person I am, and know my original out of God's essence and bosom, and that I am the Son of the living God, and so equal with my Father as such, and so my testimony is equal to that of my Father's. And verse 16, 'I am not alone, but I and the Father' (which is as high as Ego et Rex meus). And hence it is that Christ argues the transcendent weight of his testimony joined with his Father's; that here is a plurality, a two of persons, that are both of them God. And now let Christ go on as he doth: verse 17, 'It is written in the law that the testimony of two men,' though but mere men (so the opposition runs), 'is true:' his inference insinuated is from this comparative of that of men, as the lowest, to rise to this as the highest, 'how much more,' or infinitely much more, then, must the testimony of two such persons as I and my Father, yea, of two persons that are God, one God, be of validity with you. And therefore he boldly further goes on in verse 18, 'I am one who testify of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me;' and look, as he is God, so also am I myself, and therefore if you receive, according to your law, the testimony of two men that are but men (that are or may be liars), how much more of two persons that are God. Thus Christ argues here in the Gospel. Now go to the Epistle; doth not the apostle speak the very same intendment and inference, and almost the same words? For having first said, 'There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, Word, and Spirit; and these three are one,' ver. 7, he closeth upon it, and infers and presseth upon our faith: ver. 9, 'If we receive the witness of men' (of two or three men, that are but men), 'the witness of God' (viz., in these three several persons, who are one God, as ver. 7) 'must be greater.' And is not this effectually the same you heard Christ himself even now to say? And so these two scriptures fall in every way parallel, and give light to each the other, and both for the confirmation of my first assertion propounded, the trinity of the persons; than which, thus enforced, there is not found a greater.

CHAPTER III

The common concurrence which the three persons have in other works besides our salvation; that, being one in essence, they join in the operation of all external works.

I come now to shew how these three persons have, for the discovery of themselves, undertaken several works for the effecting our salvation, which is the thing inferred out of the text, and may be the subject of the rest that follows.

For the foundation of it out of this text, I shewed before how man's salvation was one main thing set out by the apostle in this chapter, as that unto which these three were witnesses, as well as that Christ was the Son of God; and they are termed witnesses to it by a real setting their several hands unto it; that is, to the effecting of it. The main object of our faith (which John here would confirm) lies in this persuasion, that God hath perfectly prepared, and really and cordially given eternal life to the sons of men. To verify the infinitely serious and real intent of God therein, he allegeth these three witnesses, who are not verbal witnesses only, in averring of it in words to our hearts and in the Scriptures, but real witnesses, that witness by what they have done; that are and have been at infinite cost and pains to accomplish it; and not in common only, but all three singly and apart: Christ in shedding his blood, the Holy Ghost in applying it, and working in our heart all that is requisite to estate us in it, and to assure us of it. And such real testimonies, in working our salvation in us and for us, are the strongest and weightiest kind of testimony; Christ says, John 10:37, 'If ye believe not me, believe the works;' and ver. 38, a testimony by works is the most valid testimony of all other; and it shews that God is most full and intense and hearty in it, when we shall hear how all that is in God, persons as well as attributes, have engaged and set themselves a-work about it.

My method in handling this great point shall be,

1. To clear the eminently distinct hand each person hath in this sole work of our salvation, by setting by it, and concurring with it, that common concurrence, and concealed (as to us) which they have in all other works, besides in other things.

2. To give proofs to their distinctly eminent hand in this work.

1. For the first I shall speak to two things.

(1.) In general how in all other works, besides this of our salvation, they have a joint concurrency, yet not any visible appearance in anyone; not of one person more than another held forth to us, although therein they have really and invisibly a distinct hand, as in the works of creation and providence, &c.

(2.) How, besides this distinct co-operation in such works in common alike to them, that yet in the works of our salvation they have declaredly some one work attributed to one more than to another, and so have by parts the whole distributively and by parts shared among them; both which propositions put together do wonderfully set forth that peculiar glory which is designedly made to appear in the work of our salvation.

(1.) As for all other works, besides this of our salvation in common to them, every one hath a joint hand, and yet distinct in each, which that place confirms: John 5, 'My Father works hitherto, and I work,' and yet concealed as to us.

The explanation of this I despatch briefly in these four assertions.

[1.] As things are in being, so in working; which axiom holds in God himself as well as in his creatures. Hence, that as all three persons have in common but one essence, so one equal hand in works. For all operations flowing from essence, therefore when the essence is but one, the operation must needs be one and the same, which here must be understood quoad substantiam operis, for the substance of the work; and hence as their essence is equal, so their concurrence is equal in this respect, even in the work of redemption, which yet is appropriated in a more especial manner unto Christ.

[2.] Yet though they be but one essence, yet they are three distinct subsistencies or personalities, and still that axiom follows us, that the operation of each follows the distinction of their existences, and bears the resemblance of them; and look what order or distinction they have in subsisting, they have in operation to accompany it; but the distinction of their personality (if abstractedly considered from the essence) being but modus essendi, therefore in like manner the distinction of their operation and concurrence is but modus operandi, a distinct manner of concurring.

[3.] Hence, look what order and dependence they have and hold in their subsistency, the same they have and hold in their working. Hence, as the Father is the fountain of the other two subsistencies, begetting the Son, and breathing the Holy Spirit, so he is in like manner the fountain of all action and operation: John 5:19, 'The Son can do nothing of himself, but what' the Father shews him, and 'he sees the Father do.' The Father begins, the Son carries on the motion, the Holy Ghost from both perfects, consummates, and executes the work: 1 Cor. 8:6, 'The Father, of whom are all things;' 'the Son, by whom are all things;' the Holy Ghost, 'through whom.' Thus in creation the ultima manus, the last hand is attributed to him. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens, Job 26:13; garnishing is the ultimate work, the consummating of all; and is therefore made his: so the forming the creatures into their perfect forms out of that rude mass is attributed to the Spirit of God.

But [4.] although there be this order and distinction in their concurrent operation between themselves, yet in all those ordinary works ad extra, common to them all, this is not made to appear to us by any discernible character. Christ says indeed, in John 5, 'My Father hitherto works' (speaking of those of creation and providence), but there is nothing in the works themselves that manifest any appropriation of what the hand of the one is more peculiarly than of the other. When God goes to make man, he may say, as he did, 'Let us make man' which imports an us, a plurality of persons to have concurred in it, yet the distinction of that us appears not in any distinct works that went to the perfecting of that workmanship. The making of the soul is not attributed especially unto one, and of the body unto another; no, nor yet in the whole frame of heaven and earth. In the creation God indeed manifested his attributes, as his eternal power and Godhead, Rom. 1:20, and yet but in scattered beams, and not all, as you heard, but there are not so much as vestigia trinitatis, footsteps of the Trinity, or of that distinction in the persons shines in them.

And though in Adam some schoolmen have endeavoured to demonstrate a shadowing forth the Trinity in the faculties of the soul, yet it is at the best and utmost of it (if so much) but such a shadowing this forth, as when we use to fetch similitude from things created, to express things divine by; and thus things earthly serve (as Christ says, John 3:3 and the 12th verse compared), by way of parable or similitude to shew forth heavenly, as the first birth shadows forth the new birth, which he had been discoursing of then, yet they are remote enough from holding forth as proper effects, or being characteristical demonstrations of them. Thus when some would argue this same from the distinction of those three powers of the soul, the understanding, memory, and will, fancying the memory in man should peculiarly resemble one person, suppose the Holy Ghost, and the understanding the Son, and the will the Father; others, that in man's soul, the understanding, the will, and the power to act, and put forth the acts of these, are lively characters of the persons; but these all are so obscure and uncertain in their evidence or character of these three persons and their distinction, as they all vanish as shadows, when wistly* pried into, and most narrowly searched into when applied.

I dare not be too definitive concerning his works of grace towards the elect angels, who besides that unto them the three persons may be supposed to be made known by revelation, yet not in them at or from their creation, but what may have further been from God's election of them, which is a super-creation grace, and which was the Father's work on them, even as the election of us men is the Father's also; or what from their union with Christ, as their head, may have had, and doth appear of these persons to them thereby; and what other work in them should answer to the Holy Ghost, and his order, and distinction, is not so fully revealed to us.

This for their conjunct operation in common works, as they may be compared with those of our salvation.

CHAPTER IV

Of their distinct appearance in the work of man's salvation.—And that their several works bear the resemblance of their several personalities.

But God resolving to manifest all that was in himself, or he would not manifest himself at all, for he will be glorified as God to the utmost, these three glories or persons therefore designed and contrived among themselves such works as should severally and apart serve to make known that there were three persons as well as several attributes, that so all of God, and the whole that is in him, might be manifested to his creature.

And this is disposed of so by them, that their several works bear the resemblance of their several subsistences, as far as possible this was representable unto us, in and by outward works and effects, in that they should be such as should have the impress or print of the distinction of these persons, together with the order of their subsisting, in a more conspicuous way upon them.

And however it is in the works of the creation of the world, and of man, and of the angels in this respect, yet we may be sure that the clearest complete revelation and manifestation of these three persons, their distinction, order of personality, was by God himself reserved until the gospel should be preached, and that Christ his Son should appear, and be made manifest to the world, when it was that man's salvation came first upon the stage, to the end that man's salvation, and the works thereof, might have the most eminent and peculiar honour of this thing. And this first manifestation of those persons then, was accompanied with a prodigy of the most pregnant and high significancy that ever was or could be given. 'The heavens opened,' which was the greatest visible wonder shewn in the heavens that had been from the creation; even as the earth's opening her womb was the greatest wonder that this terrestrial globe ever did afford; and the significancy of it was that the revelation of it was only from heaven, and that the witnesses then appearing, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, were in heaven; a mystery that would never have been understood and entertained but by such a means. And this manifestation of it did then refer to our salvation, as well as to testify to Christ's being God's Son; for it closeth with this, 'Hear him, as in whom I am well pleased;' namely, with you of mankind. Where we have, 1. The names of the three, in their distinction recorded; first, the Father, who says, 'This is my Son;' secondly, the Son, to whom and upon whom heaven opened, and the Holy Ghost descended; thirdly, the Holy Ghost; their distinct names are express. 2. Their distinction is manifested by three different outward symbols, the Father in a voice, to shew that God is invisible; the Son manifested in flesh, praying upon the banks of Jordan; the Holy Ghost descending on him in the likeness of a dove. Three differing actions of each: the Father with an open public voice, to the hearsay of all, speaks and calls from heaven, 'This is my Son;' the Son, he prays (it is here said); the Holy Ghost descends.

And these are the three witnesses in heaven, which the Epistle of John speaks of as witnesses to this truth, that Christ is the Son of God, so to us and our salvation, that we are the sons of God; and as this Θεοφανία (as they call it), or appearance, was made in three outward different symbols at Christ's baptism, so [in] our baptism is sealed up to us (to be manifested in us), the three works of Father, Son, and Spirit, namely, of election, redemption, and the application of both, which is the special work of the Spirit. And therefore we are baptized in the names of all three, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, so as although in other works these persons act really as three distinct persons among themselves, and are known unto themselves to do so, yet in this great business of our salvation they become three distinct witnesses or discoverers of themselves unto us; and whereas afore, and in other works, their order in working in every work was known but among themselves, now in these salvation-works they visibly appear; and distributively in several works proper unto each, through the works bearing the proper character of their personality, and so evidencing their distinctionand order to us.

Look then, as great persons, when they are witnesses, or would confirm a matter, have their distinct seals, and their names set to in such a distinct character as the hand and seal of each may be differenced from the other, so it is here; ad as men's seals bear their coat of arms engraven on them often, bearing the memory of some eminent exploit they have done, whereby their houses and antiquity is known, so it is here; as there are three witnesses, or persons witnessing, so three works in our salvation, which bear the impress, stamp, and similitude of their subsistence apart, and the order and rank of their distinct subsistings.

And though all concur to set on the stamp of each, even of these, yet the stamp itself impressed in each work, bears the character of one person more than of another. I shall manifest this in the particular instances of each of these works.

1. There is eternal election, or setting forth the persons that shall be saved, and the benefits, &c., which is the entrance, the groundwork, the foundation (as, 2 Tim. 2:19, it is called 'the foundation of the Lord'). Hence this is peculiarly attributed to the Father, whose person is the original, the fountain of the other two, and who is the first both in subsisting and working.

2. There is redemption, which is the next and second work in this, which supposeth election, depends on it, and flows from God's decree and speaking to his Son; and this is appropriated to the Son, which work bears the impress and likeness of his subsistence, and the order of it, as also of his working with the Father; for as his person is from the Father, so this work committed to him is from that other, the Father's work, and the Father is said to send him.

3. There is the application of both. And this is ascribed to the Spirit more eminently; for as his subsistence proceeds from both, so this work springeth both from election and redemption, and is the last, as his subsistence is. God the Father he sets out the benefits to be bestowed, made the will what he would have bestowed, and how much, and upon whom; God the Son he undertook to be the executor, sees it disposed of; and God the Holy Ghost he is as the agent or attorney whom both use to convey all to us. God the Father was as David; God the Father drew the platform of the temple, and left the materials; but God the Son, as Solomon, he builds it, rears it according to the pattern; and God the Holy Ghost, he is the overseer of the work, and gives graces and gifts to build it; which, when it is built, they dwell in it all of them in glory, when 'God will be all in all.' As the physician prescribes, the apothecary tempers, and his servant applies the physic, as a plaster or the like, so God the Father prescribes all, Christ made a plaster of his blood, and the Spirit he applies it, and sprinkleth that blood on our consciences. And, 2dly, for the similitude and allusion I used, of three seals, shewing the distinction or priority of these persons, the Scripture warrants it.

1. The Father's seal and impress you have: 2 Tim. 2:19, 'The foundation of the Lord remains sure, having this seal, The Lord knows who are his' ('whom he foreknew he predestinated,' &c.); and in the seal of election you may read the similitude of his personality engraven.

2. Jesus Christ in redeeming is said to have his seal also, as in expressions tantamount and equivalent you have, Heb. 9:15–17, for comparing the gospel to a covenant, a testament, which is in force upon the death of the testator, he withal insinuates his blood shed and sprinkled to be his seal to it, shewing, verses 17, 18, 20, that the Old Testament was confirmed by blood. He took the blood and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, 'This is the blood (for the seal) of the new testament which God hath made with you,' and enjoined unto you; even as Christ also said, 'This is the blood of the new testament.' But if you would have a place which in terminis gives it, look Daniel 9:24. It is said Messiah should be cast off 'for the sealing up of iniquity' (as it is varied in your margins).

3. The Spirit he hath his seal: Eph. 4:30, 'Grieve not the Holy Spirit, by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption.' Sealed in regeneration, which conveys the image of God; sealed again in the work of assurance, as a comforter, both which make up application.

And as their seals, so their several names and hands are set: Mat. 28:19, 'Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'

Baptism, though it be peculiarly the seal of regeneration, yet withal of the whole of salvation, and of all that ever God did for us, or will do in us, from first unto the last: 'There is one faith, one baptism; one hope of your calling,' Eph. 4. Baptism is adequate to set forth the whole object of our faith and salvation, and so is the seal of all. And because the whole of our salvation is transacted as by parts, by the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, therefore says Christ of that ordinance, 'Baptize them,' distinctly and distributively, 'in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,' and not in their name in common only. And the distinctiveness is imported both in the article put to each, τοῦ πατρὸς, of the Father, τοῦ ὑιοῦ, of the Son, τοῦ ἁγίου πνέυματος, of the Holy Ghost; but in the particle καὶ, as distinctly put to each: and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And that this is further the import of baptism, as holding forth the total object of our faith and salvation in the parts thereof, by enumerating the name of these three authors thereof, that fore-mentioned Eph. 4 confirms. There is one Spirit, ver. 4; one Lord, ver. 5; one Father, ver. 6; as one baptism, ver. 5, that seals up all.

CHAPTER V

The reasons of the three persons making such a distinct discovery of themselves in this work of our salvation, rather than in any other.

I come now to assign the reasons why the three persons chose this work of our salvation above all their other works, wherein to make such a distinct discovery of themselves.

1. Because as the mystery of the Trinity is that great mystery of all other, 'the mystery of God, and the Father, and of Christ,' Col. 2:2, the highest of all things to be known of God, so this of man's salvation was the chiefest of all his ways and works, and the greatest and utmost stage to display his glory on.

2. In this channel the love of God did run most strongly, as being that wherein God would shew his love and grace, which is the intimacy of his heart most; it is therefore eminently called love to mankind.

3. God's love is herein shewed to his own, and therefore each person was desirous, yea, zealous, to appear, that the love of each might be discerned and acknowledged, and that we in a special and peculiar respect might be obliged unto each person, and bound to praise and glorify them accordingly; to honour the Bon and the Holy Ghost as well as the Father. In giving proofs from Scriptures of this partition, I shall not allege all such as scatteredly attribute election to the Father, redemption to the Son, sanctification to the Spirit, for such proofs would be inefficacious in this respect, that we find such works wherein they have a common hand scatteredly attributed unto each. When we are converted, we are said to 'hear the voice of the Son of God,' John 5:25, 26; to be 'begotten of the Father,' James 1:17; and 'born of the Spirit,' John 3:6. So creation is scatteredly attributed to them all, and therefore to allege any one place singly for any such work, should but prove that that person is supposed to have had an hand therein, such as the rest have; but if we find any scriptures at once and together distinctly mentioning all three persons, and withal mentioning these three works, and then withal attributing one work to the one, another to another person, in this case we may conclude, that comparatively among themselves, one work is more eminently and properly to be ascribed to that person it is given to rather than the other, and that they have sorted and distributed these three among them. Now for scriptures I shall name but two.

In the first chapter to the Ephesians, election is attributed to the Father of Jesus Christ, who hath chosen us in him before the world was, ver. 4; and who hath set forth all those spiritual blessings we are blessed withal, ver. 3.

2. In the 7th verse redemption is attributed to Christ as the author thereof, whereas in election he was made as the subject in whom we were chosen; but ver. 7, 'In whom we have redemption through his blood,' as shed by him, and so the principal author and efficient of it. Then the application and sealing up of all is attributed to the Spirit: ver. 13, 14, 'In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance,' &c.

The next scripture is 1 Pet. 1 ver. 2, 'Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ.'

The apostle Peter, to endear the hearts of all saints he wrote to unto these three persons, singly shuts up their distinct agencies in our great and common salvation in as few words as possible to utter them in. Salvation was the subject he was to write them about, he in the front placeth and sets up the coat of arms of these three blessed ones as the joint founders of our salvation, emblazoning what each did contribute thereunto.

1. Here are the three persons by name mentioned, Father, Spirit, Christ.

2. Here are three works mentioned, election, sanctification, blood, both shed and sprinkled.

3. And here is election attributed to the Father, 'elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father;' sanctification to the Spirit, and the blood said to be of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation of redemption, which is his work, as you heard, 'Eph. 1:7, 'In whom we have redemption through his blood,' &c.

I observe that in mentioning election here, he doth not (as elsewhere) make mention of salvation as the end or designed scope of it, which yet is usual everywhere else. Salvation, which is the ultimate end or terminus of all (as verse 9 he terms 'the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls') is in common the result of the work of all three, and in the verses following he speaks of it as such again and again, 'begotten to an inheritance,' ver. 4, 'kept to salvation,' ver. 5, and so ver. 9, 10; this is the end of ends. But he mentions such intermediate works between election and salvation as are necessary and preparatory thereunto, as those which the persons undertook amongst them, as means through which salvation is to be obtained, as, 2 Thess. 2:13, 14, the words evidently import, that whereas God's ordination was, that 'without holiness no man should see God,' Heb. 12, 'and without shedding blood there should be no remission,' Heb. 9:22, these persons among them took upon them those works: the Father he electeth, and electing ordained holiness and blood as the means through and by which we are to obtain salvation; 'elect in or through, or unto sanctification,' &c. The Spirit undertaketh sanctification, called therefore 'sanctification of the Spirit.' You shall sanctify,' said the Father to the Spirit; and to the Son concerning his blood, It shall be your blood that shall redeem them, said the Father, in electing of us. To clear and open these things a little as they are set down:

1. Election, which is there said to be according to foreknowledge, is not vocation in time, but that choice made from everlasting, as those two parallel places shew: 'Whom he foreknew, he predestinated,' Rom. 8:29, which is all one as here, he elected according to foreknowledge, and together here with that other, 2 Thes. 2:13, 'He hath chosen you from the beginning,' that is, from everlasting; 'according to foreknowledge' is added, to shew the moving cause of election, to exclude all other accordings of works, 'not according to works,' as elsewhere, 2 Tim. 1:9, nor of holiness, or faith foreseen; for he hath chosen us that we might be holy, Eph. 1:3, 4, not because we were holy; in holiness, or through holiness, to obtain salvation, 2 Thes. 2:13, 14, as a means requisite to it. And so here it is not according to foreknowledge of our sanctification, but according to foreknowledge in and through sanctification, it is then the foreknowledge simply of our persons, abstracted from all condition, joined with and importing special love and dearest affection; for words of knowledge import and declare affections in Scripture phrase: 'Depart from me' (says Christ), 'ye workers of iniquity, I know you not;' that is, I regard you not. Answerably it is attributed to express God's knowledge of us with special love and regard: Rom. 11:2, 'God hath cast away his people whom he foreknew;' that is, loved and out of love chose them.

2. For those other that follow, for the order of them as they are here ranged there is a seeming difficulty. Some understand them as set in order, as they succeed one another in the execution of the electing decree, namely, that sanctification, whereby is meant the working all the principles of habitual grace (which we call regeneration) by the Spirit, should be the first and immediate medium of election, according to that order or chain, Rom. 8, 'Whom he predestinated he called,' under which sanctification is intended as the first and next to predestination:' and so then, 'unto obedience and sprinkling of Christ's blood' comes in as the immediate consequents of that sanctification first wrought; and so sanctification is the first most immediate designed fruit of election, though as a medium God hath elected or ordained us unto obedience and sprinkling of Christ's blood. Now, how obedience should follow upon sanctification habitual, so as it might be said we are elected through habitual sanctification unto obedience, understanding it of obedience in our whole course to the whole will of God, is easily understood, and granted by all to be the end of habitual grace, as operations are of their proper habits. But then how the sprinkling of the blood of Christ should be the consequent of sanctification, so as we should in like manner be said to be elected through sanctification unto this sprinkling of Christ's blood, this contradicts the received opinion, i.e., that justification should rather be the medium of sanctification, and in order to go afore it. And that by the sprinkling of Christ's blood here, the application of his blood to us for the forgiveness of sins should be meant, is evident, for as shedding of his blood was the work of redemption, as performed by him on the cross, so the sprinkling of his blood is a work done upon us when we actually come to believe, and is the actual application of it.

Now yet this might stand, if as learned Mr Pemble and others assert, sanctification doth, in order of nature, precede justification, and which to me seems not remote from truth, or prejudicial to the grace of justification at all, and withal consonant to right reason, for if (as all grant) justification be upon an act of faith on Christ for justification, and that not until then we are justified, as all do and must acknowledge that hold justification by faith, according to the Scriptures, and that an act of faith must proceed from a principle of faith habitually wrought, then necessarily sanctification, taking it for the principles of habitual sanctification, must be in order of nature afore justification; for the seed and principle of faith is a part, and a principal part, of regeneration or sanctification, as taken in that sense, for the working the principles of all grace, and so is agreeable to that order and chain, Rom. 8:29, where 'called' is put before being 'justified,' as predestination is put before being called, understanding calling, of the working the principles of regeneration.

But for the agreeing of this dispute as from this place, we may easily accord it, if (as Paræus) we say that all these three, sanctification, obedience, and sprinkling of Christ's blood, are not mentioned here in any subordination of the one to the other, as a precedent and medium thereunto, but all of them alike directly and equally to relate to election as the immediate thing designed, and so these two particles ἐν ἁγιασμῷ and εἰς ὑπακοὴν, come both to one, as in Scripture they are used to do, and so they should be read, as also the vulgar reads them in sanctificationem et obedientiam, 'elect unto sanctification unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ.' Thus much as to the order of the things here mentioned, supposing by obedience here to be meant the whole course of a Christian's life in holiness.

But, secondly; for the things themselves. I prefer another interpretation, above all other, which doth give this account of the apostle's scope to be to enumerate two more eminent effects of election, namely, sanctification and justification, whereof the first is attributed more specially to the Spirit, the other to faith and the blood of Christ; as, in like manner, Rom. 8:29, calling and justification are only enumerated of the benefits in this life that follow predestination; 'whom he hath predestinated, them he hath called, them he hath justified.' But then, how should obedience be interpreted, so as to appertain unto justification, which if meant of actual holiness of life, it is opposed rather thereunto, according to the protestants' doctrine. The papists, that close with this interpretation of justification to be intended in the yoking obedience and Christ's blood together, greedily catch hold of it,* that therefore our good works and actual obedience is an ingredient matter of our justification, as well as the blood of Christ. And you all know they make our obedience to halve it and bear a share of that glory with the blood of Christ, but they fall short of their aim in it, in this, that according to their doctrine habitual sanctification is to come in also as an ingredient with it, as that which helps to constitute us righteous; whereas in the apostle's speech, obedience and the sprinkling of Christ's blood, as they are linked one to another, so they are separated both from the sanctification of the Spirit.

Others of our protestant divines do therefore refer these things to justification as the two parts thereof, the imputation of the active and passive obedience of Christ; and so as that part of justification, 'the sprinkling of Christ's blood,' which is the imputation of it to us, is expressly mentioned, so that by obedience should be intended, by an ellipsis, the imputation of the obedience of Christ, namely, the active obedience coupled with his blood. This interpretation (as I remember) Bishop Downam glanceth at in his Treatise of Justification, where I first met with it; but I meet with it hinted also in commentators: In obedientiam Jesu Christi et aspersionem sanguinis ejusdem Jesu, says Æstius,* 'unto the obedience of Jesus Christ, and sprinkling of the blood of Christ;' his meaning is, that the first branch is to be made out and supplied by the analogy of the latter, as is often in Scripture, that as therefore it is expressly said 'to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus,' so it should be in like manner supplied to the imputation or benefit of the obedience of Jesus Christ imputed. This, if there be not harshness or violence in it, I should wish might stand, because it helps out the active obedience to be the matter of our justification. And truly the argument of some against it, that we are not said to be elected unto Christ's obedience so understood, but rather by it, or through it, moves me not, because Christ's merits were not the foundation or motive to election, nor are we anywhere said to be elected through Christ, or for Christ; so as notwithstanding that interposed scruple, this might well stand.

But there is another reason which is more plausible, and which gives as just an account why obedience is cast into and linked thus with Christ's blood, as appertaining unto justification, and as requisite to it as Christ's blood is, and that is that Peter understood obedience of justifying faith as it embraceth, receives, and submits unto Christ's blood, and the imputation of it for justification before God; and so this act of faith, as it is abstracted from sanctification and works, as viewing, and eyeing, and submitting unto Christ's blood and obedience only for justification, is therefore joined therewith in the work of justification here intended; and truly the reasons on this hand rise up to a great evidence, if not certainty, that Peter should so mean.

1. For, first, it is not only called 'obedience to the faith,' Πίστει, as Acts 6:7, in the dative case, as noting out obedience to the doctrine of faith, but it is expressly termed ὑπακοὴ πιστεως, the obedience of faith, in the genitive case, as noting out the act of faith, its being termed by way of eminency, obedience. So Rom. 1:5, and chap. 16:26. Yea, in chap. 10:16, obedience to the gospel is interpretatively and exegetically made all one as to believe, in these words, 'They have not all obeyed the gospel,' for Isaiah says, 'Lord, who hath believed our report?' where he interprets our report to be the gospel, or glad tidings, and believing to be all one with obedience to it. And indeed, for men to renounce their own righteousness past, present, and to come, and betake themselves wholly unto, or (as the apostle's word in the same chapter is) to 'submit themselves to the righteousness of God,' this is the greatest and highest obedience, and deserves the name κατʼ ἐξοχὴν; and the apostle having deciphered it forth as so great a submission in the beginning of that chapter, under those terms, might well call it obedience in the following part; and he evidently speaks of justifying faith in opposition unto works, as is evident by the 5th and 6th verses; and so in like manner, when in chapter 1, he calls it obedience, he means that faith by which the just do live, ver 17, of which he treats in the whole Epistle.

2. That which confirms this interpretation, that by obedience should be meant the act of justifying faith, is that in that parallel place, 2 Thes. 2:13, we are said to be elected through sanctification, or in or unto sanctification, 'and belief of the truth.' Faith is joined with sanctification there when election to the medium of salvation is spoken of.

3. And thirdly, as Paul, so Peter himself also in this chapter termeth faith obedience: 'You have purified your souls by obeying the truth;' and so look as Paul calls it belief of the truth, Peter terms it obeying the truth; and as Paul calls it obedience simply, so Peter here also. And that in this speech, 'Ye have purified your hearts by obeying the truth,' he means faith, as eyeing justification or Christ's blood in the gospel, for cleansing and purifying the conscience from the guilt of sin, is evident by Peter's own speech elsewhere, in that great synod, Acts 15:9, 'God hath purified their hearts by faith,' which he by the coherence evidently speaks of, viz., justification by faith; for whether we were justified by faith only, or by observing the law, was the point in question there, as in like manner in the Epistle to the Galatians, which also that of Heb. 9:10, 13, 14, 15, &c., confirms.

4. Fourthly, Faith as justifying is eminently called obedience in the point of justification coupled with Christ's blood here, and the imputation of it, as the proper object of that act, and the true effect or consequent of that act, according all you have it, Rom. 3:25, God hath set forth Christ as 'a propitiation, through faith in his blood.'

And thus understanding these words, we may by 'sanctification of the Spirit' understand, habitual sanctification in the heart, and take in actual sanctification in the life as included therein, as it is usually taken, and in that 2 Thes. 2:13, forecited, and then faith justifying as the act, under the name of obedience and Christ's blood as the object thereof, and the sprinkling or application of it by the Spirit upon that act of obedience.

And thus all three persons come in, in their proper work for us (which is the thing I aim at): 1, the Father in election; 2, the Son, as shedding whose blood it is, 'The blood of Jesus Christ,' and that first shed for our redemption or justification from sin, 'in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin,' as Eph. 1:7, and who 'by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for us,' Heb. 9:12; and although the sprinkling of this blood to the purifying of our hearts by faith is a work of the Spirit, as well as sanctification is said to be, and this in Peter's intentment, for, ver. 22, he says, 'having purified your souls to the obedience of the truth by the Spirit,' yet the first shedding of that blood (which sprinkling thereof necessarily supposeth) was by Christ himself; and by his blood, as shed by him, it is we are justified when it comes to be sprinkled on us or applied unto us. The efficacy and the virtue of it lay in that it was his blood, and shed by him to that end; therefore, Heb. 9, where this matter is handled and opened out of the type, having, ver. 24, said he sprinkled the blood, in the 22d verse he adds, 'Without shedding blood there is no remission;' so as the emphasis here lies in the blood of Christ even as shed, but now applied and eyed by faith; and so the proper eminent work of the second person, the Son, is held forth, as well as of the Spirit, and thus all here falls in with what you have, 1 Cor. 6:8, 'But now you are washed,' which is the general to the two parts of purification that follow, 'But ye are sanctified, but ye are justified,' where justification follows after sanctification here. And here he attributeth these two works unto these two persons, the Son and the Spirit, 'justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,' and sanctified by the Spirit our God; sanctification being by the Spirit, as justification in the name of Jesus Christ; or by the Spirit as the author of both, but by Christ as the purchaser and meritorious cause of either; in the name or virtue of Christ. And of our God comes in as having an hand in both. And thus much for the confirmation of this great point, which withal hath took in the opening of this obscure and difficult place.

CHAPTER VI

The Uses.—See the great love of God, that all that is within him, all his attributes, and all his persons, should concern themselves in our salvation.—Since salvation is so great a work, in which the whole Deity is employed, let us not neglect it.—Let us think how welcome these three persons will make us at our arrival in heaven.

Use 1. Is it thus that all three persons jointly and severally have their have thus in man's salvation, have shared it amongst them into so many works, and took them on them, as so many offices, and vouchsafed to bear a title of honour therefrom, as you have heard? You that love God, see and acknowledge the infinite overflowing love of God therein; God hath loved us (you see) with all that is within him. Content nor satisfied was he to shew forth all his attributes therein, and those which had not been in the least discovered in the creation, as grace and mercy, &c., but he would have the persons also set a-work, and employed therein, and thereby manifested to us. Oh let us love God with all that is within us; 'Bless the Lord, O my soul,' says the Psalmist, 'and all that is within me bless his holy name,' Ps. 103:1. Let all thy faculties come forth, as the stars in their courses, to celebrate his name. If you pray, pray with the spirit, pray with understanding also; if you sing, sing with the spirit, and sing with the understanding also, as the apostle speaks upon another occasion, 1 Cor. 14:15, and let nothing be untuned or unstruck in this concert. God the Father became our God, and ordained to give himself to us from everlasting in election, and delighted to choose us, as the phrase is, Deut. 10:15. He gave his Son, and he gave himself both to us, and for us, and both gifts are invaluably infinite; and because he had no more left, he hath given his Spirit also, as, 2 Cor. 5, ye have it; when man was first made, then only God said, 'Let us make man;' this was spoken, say some, with a farther eye and foresight than to the creation, this counsel expressed what special care they each should have unto the like piece of workmanship was then afore them, even unto the gospel state. I will choose him to life, saith the Father, but he will fall, and so fall short of what my love designed to him; but I will redeem him, says the Son, out of that lost estate. But yet being fallen he will refuse that grace, and the offers of it, and despise it; therefore I will sanctify him, said the Holy Ghost, and overcome his unrighteousness, and cause him to accept it. And having this counsel and resolution about him, they still said, however, 'Let us make him,' and thereupon fell to making him, and have since done all, this for him.

Use 2. Salvation is a great work, and shall we neglect it? The three persons have been employed about it, and that from everlasting; and will not you work out your own salvation? It is your own. Do you think to do that in a trice they have been doing from eternity? or do you think to do it when you will? Salvation is locked up by a door of faith, as it is called, Acts 14:27, and to that door there are these three keys of these three persons, and all must, and do concur in it, when it is effected. And thinkest thou to have these States of heaven to come together at thy beck and at thy call? Thou mayest sooner think to order the great conjunction of the stars and planets: Job. 38:32, 'Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth? knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? or canst thou set the dominion thereof upon the earth?' That is, canst thou order their motion, so as that their conjunctions or meetings should fall out when thou pleasest? which, when they meet, have special influences upon this lower world. Canst thou set that clock? And thinkest thou (that canst not move a man's heart on earth) to call the Trinity together when thou pleasest to despatch thy business for thee? Be sure, therefore, that thou take their time, when thou feelest the Spirit moving thee; then all those wheels are a-moving, and then take thy season.

Use 3. Think how welcome we shall be when we come to heaven. It is said in the parable, that when men fail, there are friends made with unrighteous Mammon, which will then receive you. But here is a higher company and fellowship of friends to us, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the three witnesses in heaven that are and have been, as you see, so great friends to us, and each love us for his work's sake on us, and cost and labour of love bestowed: artifex amat opus; so do each of these love their own work in us. Saith the Father, This is the soul which I chose from everlasting, and set my heart upon so long ago. Saith Christ, This is that man that I represented upon the cross, and the welcome day now comes that I have return of the travail of my soul, the spirit* of my blood. And I, says the Spirit, have took infinite pains with him to keep him, and to bring him to this. And thus all rejoice and glory in it.

Use 4. That these three glorious persons thus equally share this work, of so much glory to God in the highest, amongst them, and one doth not take upon him all, but each bears his part, that each may be honoured as the other; yea, are jealous of the glory of each other herein as much as of their own. This may teach us, poor narrow creatures, humility and mutual condescension, that no man should do or have the honour of all the work, or strive for it. God hath shared his gifts, made diversities of operations, and worketh as, and in what measure, and by whom, he pleaseth. If there had been contending amongst these persons who should have the glory of all, or who should be the first or second, this work had stood still, and man had not been saved; but they willingly share it, according to their order and priority of subsisting, and involve our salvation with their glory.

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MONERGISM BOOKS

Man's Restoration by Grace by Thomas Goodwin, Copyright © 2020

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Table of Contents

The design of the discourse.—The two texts of Scripture explained.

That there are three persons in the Godhead, who have undertaken distinct offices in the work of our

The common concurrence which the three persons have in other works besides our salvation

Of their distinct appearance in the work of man's salvation

The reasons of the three persons making such a distinct discovery of themselves in this work of our

The Uses.—See the great love of God, that all that is within him, all his attributes, and all his pe